walmart boycott... for real

i only buy used products if possible, so it's the thrift store for me

harder to do with food, but sometimes it gets thrown away

walmart boycott? too easy, the nearest one is 70 miles away [long walk]

 

I would really be interested in seeing you back up that statement, if you can. Please tell me what OUR President has done that is worse than shipping millions of our jobs to China and forcing thousands of small businesses out of business across the country.

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Millions? are you sure about that? Can YOU back that up?
So, does everything need to be made in America?
Was everything wal-mart sold made in America once upon a time.

 

This type of naive, idealistic thinking gets on my nerves. Its fine for you to boycott wal-mart, Molly. Its commendable, in fact. I personally rarely shop at wal mart. However, you talk of being poor like you don't really know what its like to be poor. Its easy to sit on your highhorse and talk about saving pennies, but until you know what its like to have three dollars to feed yourself for a week, don't judge other people. Sometimes the only option is to take that three dollars and spend it on a 8 pack of ramen noodles from, where else? Wal-Mart. Or Bilo or Publix or whatever..they're all just as evil and just as corporate. Three dollars isn't going to get you shit from the local, organic farm. Sometimes its just a matter of feeding yourself and surviving until the next paycheck, not a matter of spending 100 dollars on several outfits from wal mart versus 100 dollars on one completely organic outfit. Some of us don't have the luxury to comtemplate spending even 20 dollars on clothes or appliances when we have to feed ourselves.

Those who do decide to live a life of luxury and buy the newest electronics or whatever at the cheapest prices from wal mart, I can't say I agree with their lifestyle. I have a used tv that probably came out in like 1993. I don't really own any other electonics. But thats my lifestyle choice. I don't judge people who live differently than me and you shouldn't either. You can't force people to boycott corporations and give up their way of life just because you don't live that way.

edit: I don't mean to sound so harsh. I do agree with you, 100%. Wal Mart has completely destroyed the idea of local economy. However, it seems like you're trying to force others to see things your way, and it doesn't really work like that. Idealists are rare in this world, and you can't convert someone that doesnt adhere to your ideals.

 

Yes I can, but you don't live here and consequently don't have a dog in that race.

no, but when WalMart only buys products from foreign producers factories close and Americans loose their jobs. This also forces other retailers to buy cheap junk from the same foreign producers and more American factories close.

Yes it was, until Sam Walton died. They used to proudly hang huge signs throughout their stores that read, "Made in America." They built their reputation by selling American made products at a time when the markets were beginning to be flooded with foreign made products. They even proudly sold the "Union Label" products. Their signs were even printed in Red, White and Blue.

I don't see how one can even entertain the idea that the biggest retailer in America selling almost no American made products doesn't have some pretty devastating results for our economy.

On a personal note, I've recently made the decision to buy NO Chinese made products. Not only does it hurt our economy, every Chinese made item I've purchased in the past year has either been defective out of the box, or broke soon after I bought it. All they make is JUNK and many of their consumable items have been poisoned, ie, pet food and toothpaste come to mind here and poisoned baby formula in other countries.

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I have a few dogs in this race, care to back up your statement?

 

i have been boycotting walmart since they opened....i only go there for the babes now

 

I'm with you guys. I'm tired of going to Wal Mart getting shitty service and the cashier always looks miserable, it's depressing. Every time I ask an employee a question or where an item is they just point in the direction of where the item is, what the hell happened to good customer service!! Since moving to Miami I have no need to go to Wal Mart. Here they are all located in very out of the way places.

 

This seems like a cop-out, sir.
I am interested.
Tell me, don't tell me...please don't use: "Well, you are not American"...as an excuse not to respond to a simple question.

I can clearly see, in the short term, that Wal-wart could suck the American economy/job market dry.
The talk of Wal-mart's hegemony has been circulating since approx 1985.
That is, atleast, twenty-five years of an affect to be seen.
I do not see that.
That is my point.

Those items were probably made in Malaysia.
China makes some of the best and worst products the world has ever seen.

How does America compare to China in regards to the amount of product recalls it has had in the last 50 years?

 

indeed. Sam Walton's kids got a little too greedy when they inherited the company and started buying chinese goods left and right. However, I just read an interesting tidbit of information about Sam Walton: Shortly after Wal-Mart started to take off and rake in significant income, JFK extended minimum wage to retail workers, with one exception:companies that made less than 250,000 yearly. Instead of paying his employees minimum wage, Walton simply split his company into several small companies instead of one huge corporation, thus providing a loophole. This eventually went to federal court and ruled a scheme, but Walton still found a loophole. He just cut his employees checks to satisfy uncle sam, but threatened to fire them if they cashed the checks. Pretty messed up...that company has been corrupt from day one.

 

I'm one of those people who actually reads the labels, while WallMart does sell some Malaysian products, it's mostly Chinese. In the past few weeks I've spent some real time just looking at labels to see what they're selling.

I guess I haven't seen their best products, yet.

Fair enough.

To make a very long story short, my father was a small businessman, and I've owned my own business. I grew up in the small business community of my father's friends and competitors, long before Wal Mart. I watched as, one by one, they closed their doors as a result of K Mart, Wal Mart and cheap imports. That was in East Georgia.

I married a woman from Cleveland, Ohio and spent the 70s in and out of Cleveland and have in-laws there and my son lived there as well for many years. Through the 80s many of them and their friends were laid off from the steel mills and related industry because of cheaper Japanese steel and Japanese cars. These weren't just jobs, they were careers. The old factories have since been converted to night clubs and apartment buildings that only employ a small fraction of people the factories did.

I moved to West Georgia in 1979. Carrollton is the biggest city, about 10 or 12,000 at that time, about a third were college students and employees. Besides the K Mart, most everything was small business oriented. In a short span of time during the 90s came WalMart, CVS, many chain restaurants that had a devastating impact on small businesses. Some survived, but many didn't.

I have a friend who owned a very prosperous unique Restaurant and bar in a landmark Mansion. He managed to hang on for a while, but finally closed due to the Chain competition a few years ago.

In early 2001 I had been manager of an electronic repair shop in Douglasville for about 5 years of a 41 year career. Because of the declining prices of TVs and such, the owner closed the doors. I hit the street and figured I'd have a job within a day or so, but, all of the other shops had already closed. I was out of work for about 3 years and finally took a job at my friend's restaurant until I found a security position.

That job put me in a Honda factory in Bremen where I met many people making $10.00 an hour who had been owners and employees of small businesses that had closed. Everywhere I've been I've known people who were laid off because of automation, job outsourcing to foreign countries, squeezed out by big corporations and cheap foreign goods.

Wal Mart is not the only bad guy here, but they do embody all of the ills that our economy has had to endure. The real problem lies in the idea that Capitalism works without tight controls and Wal Mart has been a master of getting around the ones that we do have.

The premise of conservative economics is that business exists to create jobs. Just ask any corporate executive, though, and he will tell you that it's only purpose is to make as much money as possible with as little investment as possible. Employees are only an investment.

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Here's the WalMart scam: The Chinese use their trash to make neat trinkets that look like products we need, WalMart sells them to us and we deposit them in our landfills. The Chinese and WalMart both make lots of money that they use to buy America, one piece at a time. Simply put, we're trading America to the Chinese for their trash. Of course, what they're getting is a run down bankrupt nation, so who's getting the best of this deal?

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x

 

Got any to share?

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You probably have an extra quote somewhere.
I can not accept your apology given your long service record here.
You should know better.



I will respond to the points raised after my last post, tonight.
I want to take a fair crack at it...rather than rushing a response.
I was going to leave it and say: "Fair enough"...but not now

 

My wish is to buy a product that does not fall apart when I take it out of the package, like Chinese products do.

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I always try to buy from small town store whenever I can. But I live in a very small town. And walmart it pretty much the only place for a good 40-50 miles that has stuff I need half the time.

However, I will do my best to cut back. I thank you for doing what you are doing.

 

Nope but it should be made in countries with humane minimum wages.

 

I bought my kid one of those dolls where you pull teh string and it's supposed to talk, and this doll was made in China, and I swear to God Almighty in Heaven that when my kid pulled teh string the doll said "Me so solly." I don't care for that.

 

They more than likely are. You just can't compare. That's were many people make the mistake.